Of Starry Nights Long Ago

         He told us how the water whispered
         and what the smoke was heard to say ~
         how the mountains bled as brothers
         when tribal truths were stripped away.

         Beneath a starry night of wonder,
         we gathered round his feathered bed
         and listened long ~ his right of passage
         would come the ancients ~ soft to tread.

         His words were old ~ his spirit reaching
         the same as colors before him flew
         were part the clan ~ his everafter
         and driven deep each breath he drew.

         He told of dances to the heavens
         and storms that came when heard their cry ~
         across a great divide of nations
         where buffalo as stars abide.

         He spoke of wisdom we could not fathom
         and maidens wrapped in beaver fur ~
         of blankets weaved from silken ribbon
         and stories told without one word.

         Were wings then spread across a canyon
         as fields of wheat ~ their seeds to grow
         a people numbered without measure
         were witness to this warrior's soul.

         A chief as proud as this remembrance
         sat beneath a starlit sky ~
         and traded tales of days forgotten
         with those who came to watch him fly.

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